Courtois Motifs as a Means of Representing Pedagogical Issues in F.M. Dostoevsky's Short Story «The Little Hero»

Abstract

Pedagogical problems are the backbone for the work of F.M. Dostoevsky, various aspects of this topic can be traced throughout the writer's creative career, however, one of the most remarkable works from the point of view of the way pedagogical ideas are represented is the story "Little Hero". Here Dostoevsky uses a complex of canonical motifs of courtois literature. These traditions are already foregrounded by the semantics of the title and, further, they can be traced in the plot structure based on the initiation rite, as well as in the character system of the story (the protagonist not only positions himself as a knight, but in fact is the possessor of typical knightly attributes, and the features of a Beautiful lady are projected onto one of the female characters). However, the representation of courtois motives in the story of F.M. Dostoevsky's is specific, and the specificity lies in the writer's use of irony, which is why the traditional plot of the knight's novel and the entire motivic complex characteristic of courtois literature are realized in a comic, somewhat degraded form.